The RMT has highlighted the Nottingham to Birmingham New Street route, where an annual season ticket for a 70-mile route costs £4,060, as one which is particularly expensive compared to the fares paid in other European countries.

General secretary Mick Cash said: "We will be using the day to highlight that while train companies make big profits on the back of fare rises, guards and other members working in the sector are facing unprecedented attacks from employers – ranging from the spread of driver only operation, cuts to infrastructure work, ticket office closures and de-staffing of stations."

The Government uses the previous July's Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation to determine increases in regulated fares - 3.6% in 2017.

These are around half of all tickets and include season tickets on most commuter routes and some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys.

Train operating companies set the prices of other tickets but are bound by competition rules.

Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), accused the Government of choosing to "snub rail passengers" by continuing to raise fares while fuel duty is frozen for a seventh consecutive year.

Mr Joseph said: "The extra money that season ticket holders will have to fork out this year is almost as much as drivers will save.

"That doesn't seem fair to us or the millions of people who commute by train, especially as wages continue to stagnate. What's good enough for motorists should be good enough for rail passengers."

Bruce Williamson, of campaign group Railfuture, warned that "people are being priced out of getting to work".

He called for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation measure to be used for regulated fare increases.

It is normally lower than RPI and is used by the Government to set increases in benefits and pensions.

Mr Williamson said: " If CPI had been used instead of RPI since 2004, then rail fares would be 17% lower, a significant amount of money for season ticket holders who are spending thousands of pounds to get to work.

"It's no wonder that poor value for money is the number one concern of rail travellers, with British rail fares amongst the most expensive in Europe."

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A Department for Transport spokesman said: " We are investing in the biggest modernisation of our railways since the Victorian times to improve services for passengers - providing faster and better, more comfortable trains with extra seats.

"This includes the first trains running though London on the Crossrail project, an entirely new Thameslink rail service and continuing work on the transformative Great North Rail Project.

"We keep fare prices under constant review and the price rises for this year are capped in line with inflation, with 97p out of every £1 paid going back into the railway."

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group which represents train operators, said: "On average, fares will rise by less than inflation this year.

"For every pound paid in fares, 97p goes directly back to operating and improving services and, with more people travelling, that means more money for investment by the private and public partnership railway to build the better network Britain needs."